Equatorial Guinea censors Gbagbo trial

The trial of former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo at the International Criminal Court (ICC) is being censored by the National Radio and Television of Equatorial Guinea.

“We’ve been forbidden from airing Laurent Gbagbo’s trial due to his friendship with our president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema,” a ranking state media official told AFP.

The RTNGE network in Spanish is watched by around 85% of the country.

Already, the post-electoral crisis in Côte d’Ivoire which had ended with the arrest of Laurent Gbagbo in April 2011, had been ignored by the authorities.

Before the transfer of Gbagbo to The Hague, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema called on Africans to boycott the ICC.

Nguema has been leading the former Spanish colony with an iron hand since a coup in 1979.

He said he was ready to run again at the scheduled presidential elections this year.